HILLSBOROUGH – Though February has come and gone, Orange and Chatham Counties’ District Attorney, Jim Woodall says he’s not ready to announce whether charges will be brought against anyone regarding the recent UNC academic scandal.

“I’m not going to give a timeline,” Woodall says. “I was hoping that we would announce any charges if there are going to be any by the end of February.”

Last May, he said he wanted to know if there was any academic fraud, financial fraud, computer fraud, forgery, or conspiracy to conceal any crimes in the African and Afro-American Studies Department. An external review by former Governor Jim Martin and consulting firm Baker Tilly confirmed that fraudulent classes were found within the department. It also found that the problem dated back to 1997 and that it was isolated to just two staff members.

Woodall says he got the final parts of the investigation from the SBI in early February, but that it’s an in depth process.

“There’s some more information that we’re looking at, some more documents that we’ve become aware of,” Woodall says. “When I say we, it’s the SBI and my office. I think that process is going to take just a little bit longer.

He says the idea behind waiting is that he wants to make sure there is one announcement about the case rather than changes along the way.

“What we want to do it, if—and again I emphasize if—if there are any charges, I want to announce all the charges at one time,” Woodall says. “I don’t want to come back weeks or months later with any additional charges. And that’s not to say that there are going to be any charges at all.”

AFAM Scandal
Martin on AFAM: “This Is Not An Athletic Scandal…It’s Academic”
BoG Panel: Time To Move On From AFAM Scandal
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